Ksatriya Gadáhasta Yoddhr (Indian Macemen)
Heavily armed, armoured and well trained, these men are excellent infantry to send into the fiercest melee. Description Warriors from the higher tiers of the Kshatriya caste, these men have chosen to fight with the mace, a weapon with a substantial symbolic importance in India. These men are professional soldiers, paid by the government and very well trained in combat. As such, they can afford better equipment and armour, but they also wear some jewellery to further emphasize their high status. They wield their maces in one hand with a bell-shaped shield, decorated with various painted motifs, in the other. Many of these motifs have a religious significance, such as the chakra and bodhi tree in Buddhism, and the swastika in Hinduism. The maces are made out of a multitude of materials, but most had iron or bronze heads with wooden handles. Some maces have spikes on them, to increase their lethality. \n\nBeing relatively wealthy, these men can afford better clothing than the average warrior, with some dyed cloth and some jewellery being in evidence. Some of them wear armour too, namely corselets of hardened leather and scale armour. The leather corselets can, for instance, be seen on some of the warriors on the reliefs on the toranas at Sanchi. The scale armour is a short, armless cuirass, the simplest type of metal body armour described by Kautilya in the Arthashastrsa. In addition to the traditional hair knots and turbans, some wear helmets. The helmets, made of iron or copper, are of the type seen on the Nagarjunakonda relief, with a pointed shape. Helmets are rarely seen on ancient Indian depictions, and even though occasionally mentioned in the ancient literature, they seem to have been of limited use. Yet compared to the turbans that might help deaden blows, but do not protect from slashing or missile weapons, helmets are very effective means of protection, and saw use among more high-ranking warriors. Still, some sport the classic hair knots, or long flowing hair, which was popular among the upper classes in ancient India. Heavily armed, armoured and well trained, these men are excellent infantry to send into the fiercest melee. They may not have the same impact as the swordsmen, but their fighting skill and superior armour gives them far better staying power. Hence, the macemen are good medium/heavy infantry for Indian armies. Historically, the mace, generally known as Gada, was a very popular weapon among knights, and many knights took pride in their skill of mace fighting. In fact, there existed several different fighting techniques, some of which included hurling the mace at the enemy. Several types of maces are seen on reliefs and mentioned in textual sources. Some, such as the great mace, or Mahagada, was probably wielded two-handed, while other types were wielded with one hand, with or without a shield. The reliefs provide us with ample evidence for various types of mace heads, ranging from square and hexagonal forms, to spiked varieties, and some shaped as simple clubs or batons. Traditionally, most knights fought mounted on chariots, and would mostly only fight dismounted if the chariot broke down or if they were caught in melee. However, some knights, although of higher standing than most, would probably have fought as a part of another arm of the classic "four-armed army", or Caturangabala. Many would likely have made up the heavier contingents of the infantry. Further, not all kshatriyas were knights, and the wealthier of these would likely have fought as part of the heavier troops, although not from chariots. According to Kautilya in the Arthashastra, the armoured infantry was supposed to hold the centre of the battle line. Such warriors would most likely have been almost exclusively kshatriyas, and were often full-time warriors, being provided for by the state in peacetime. Indeed, Kautilya argues that the army should preferably be made up exclusively of men of the kshatriya caste. Still, given the size of ancient Indian armies, some comprised of over 600,000 men, it is likely that a substantial part was of other castes, and only a fraction of the Kshatriyas would have been wealthy enough to be as well equipped as the knights. EB2IndianMacemen.jpg|Render Category:Units Category:Units available only in EB2 Category:Takashila